PRESENT:
Honorable Karen V. Murphy
Justice of the Supreme Court
Index No. 5541/09
IN THE MATTER OF:
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION
SYSTEMS, INC. as NOMINEE for ENCORE
CREDIT CORP.,
-against-
DIANA ESPOSITO a/kla DIANE ESPOSITO;
BANK OF AMERICA, N. ; NASSAU COUNTY
CLERK,
Excerpt:
The supporting affidavits are in conflict with the recorded satisfaction in that the
satisfaction executed by MERS as nominee for Encore states that there had been no
assignments.There is a purported, and as yet unrecorded assignment from MERS as nominee
for Encore to Bank of America dated March 12, 2009.This Court is left to question the
motivation behind MERS’ assignment of a mortgage previously satisfied of record during
the pendency of this matter.There is no proof that MERS physically delivered the note and
mortgage to Bank of America prior to the date ofthe assignment. (See Wells Fargo Bank,
N.A. v. Marchione , 2009 WL 3380639 (2d Dept. , 2009)).
The county’s Office of the Inspector General said Kenneth Arthur Ferguson, a former employee of the Miami-Dade County Finance Department, Tax Collector’s Office was arrested July 13. He was charged with one count of organized scheme to defraud, a second-degree felony; 11 counts of forgery; and 11 counts of uttering a forged instrument, third-degree felony charges.
The OIG investigation found that Ferguson, a tax records specialist II whose duties included collecting and processing tax payments from the public, forged his supervisor’s signature on employment verification forms and altered payroll statements in order to qualify for low-income housing.
Ferguson’s scheme was first discovered when an income verification form with the forged supervisor’s signature was inadvertently intercepted by an employee at the fax machine and placed on the supervisor’s desk. Upon seeing the document, Ferguson’s supervisor immediately realized her signature had been forged. The OIG was called to investigate the alleged misconduct.
The OIG found that Ferguson not only forged his supervisor’s signature on verification of employment forms, but also fraudulently altered payroll statements, which are official public records, to demonstrate a lower income. Ferguson’s actual income was higher than the qualifying limit for the reduced rent. From 2005 through 2009, the fraud garnered Ferguson $37,944 in rental housing benefits he was not qualified to receive.
“Forging documents to qualify for special poverty programs feels much like a crime against the poor,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said. ” In reality, it is a sad crime against every person living in Miami-Dade County.”
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